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Major upgrade to Wanaka electricity supply officially opens

28 Nov 2018

The newly completed Riverbank Road Substation in Wanaka has been officially opened. The substation forms part of a major upgrade to the electricity supply for Wanaka.

The project which took two years to complete is a $10.5 million investment in the region.

The Wanaka upgrade consisted of three projects in one:

Building a new switching substation that takes power from the national grid at Cromwell and then supplies it to the Wanaka and Camp Hill substations

Installing a 66kV underground cable from Riverbank substation to the Wanaka substation

Upgrading the overhead power lines along Riverbank Road to new high voltage lines

Aurora Energy CEO, Richard Fletcher, said the project would improve the security of supply for Wanaka and will allow future capacity upgrades. Electricity demand in Wanaka has increased in line with its growing population.

“The Wanaka upgrade is one of several network additions we are making to cater for future growth and ensure continuing safe and reliable power supply for the local community.”